Phoenix Troubles
by Kirby77DP77
Summary: Harry Potter has one destiny, to kill Voldemort. But what if Tom kidnappeds him first? Takes place after 5th year. Summer before 6th year. H/G if there is a pairing HIATUS temporary
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

_This story takes place in the summer after 5th year._

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_Dear Order of The Phoenix, _

_I suppose you are all expecting Potter's letter to tell all of you powerless pack of mudbloods and traitors that he's alive. Well, he wasn't exactly able to write this, so I thought he would appreciate me alerting his 'protectors'. _

_Have fun picking out his coffin. _

_-Lord Voldemort_

_P.S. The blood is Harry's._

Fred and George looked up from the bloody and red stained note with a disbelieving look in their identical eyes. "Bloody hell..."

"Boys?" Mr. Weasley said as he entered the kitchen. "Oh! Is that Harry's letter? It _has _been three days since he last wrote. I do hope he tells more about the invention of the rubber duck this time and- Fred, is something wrong?"

"Just read it." They whispered at the same time. Arthur scanned the paper and his cheesy grin faded.

"ALBUS! ALASTOR! MINERVA!" He screamed as loudly as possible and put a locking charm on the curtain of Mrs. Black. His eyes didn't leave the paper until Albus swiped it out of his clammy hands.

"Minerva, send a party out to Harry's relatives. HURRY!" The headmaster boomed.

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Harry Potter stared out if his window and sighed. This summer had been rough on him so far. With Sirius dead...

He shook his head to clear his mind. _Can't think of him now._ The Boy Who Lived thought while he stood up to grab a quill and parchment. He started to write:

_-Order_

_For the record, still alive._

_-Harry_

This was a usual letter for the Order. His depressed and angry mind couldn't put more down on paper than that. He'd always wrote more for Snuffles... _No! Don't think about him. Don't think how it was your fault and how it was your own stupidity that killed him. _Harry paused in his rant of self pity._ I'm sorry Sirius._

He wiped the tears that ran down his face away opened the window for Hedwig, the snowy owl, to come in. As soon as Harry lifted it up she bolted in and squeecked, hooted, squacked, and some more unrecognizable sounds.

Harry put a soothing hand on her back. "It's all right, Hedwig. It's all right. What's wrong girl?" She screeched again and pecked the window.

"Hedwig, it's fine it's just-" He saw two black figures stop in front of his house. "Hedwig! Go to the Order and take this with you." Harry added more to the note.

_-Order_

_For the record, still alive. (For now...) Can only just send this to you. Think Tom's outside, Professor Dumbledore, you need to check by Snuffles's mir-_

He just stopped writing and dropped the note as he heard a bang downstairs followed by a scream. Harry put his enchanted mirror in his pocket and he pulled out his holly and phoenix feather wand and crept down the rickety staircase.

"Hello Potter, sorry I'm late. It took awhile to break your mother's charm." a sinister voice gloated in front of him. "_Crucio_!"

Pain flooded the boy's senses, but he refused to scream as the pain ebbed away from his entire body. However his scar burned like no tommorow and started to bleed.

"Oh, does that hurt Potter? I could give you a painless death if you tell me where those mudbloods and traitors are hiding." Voldemort poked his wand in front of my baggy, sleep deprived emerald eyes. "Tell me or you will be tortured mercilessly. They'll all die anyway, they can't stop me. And after I kill that old crackpot Dumbledore your 'Order' will be nothing."

Harry's eyes glittered in anger. "Albus Dumbledore is twice the wizard you are, and I'll never _rat_ on my family." He emphasized rat as he spied Wormtail cowering behind Voldemort.

The Dark Lord rolled his eyes. "Well Potter, you just made my day more fun. _Animinotverto!"_

Harry's eyes widened and swiftly put up a shield charm. But, that couldn't stop the snakelike man's attack. Harry tried to aviod the ray of silver light, but it followed him like a heat seeking missle and hit him square in the chest.

The evil man stepped over his body, feeling no remorse. Voldemort

walked upstairs and went to the boy's bedroom he remembered from his enemy's mind. The snake saw an empty bird cage and chuckled.

"Always playing the hero, eh Potter? Couldn't stand to have your bird be killed by me either?" He scanned the room for anything useful for blackmail when he saw a note on the floor. Skimming the messy, slanted writing he laughed again. "Pathetic Potter. Not even any useful information, but I could have fun with this..."

Riddle grabbed the letter and wrote his own on the back. He pointed his wand at the flimsy, now red with Harry's blood, parchment and sent it to the blood traitors the boy called friends.

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Minerva threw down her floo powder quickly and yelled, "Dursley Residence!"

The chimney swept her up in ash and carried her through to Potter's relatives fire place that they had cleared out in case of an emergancy. (Of course Harry had done this. Not his uncle.) She fell onto hard ground and looked around.

Now Minerva had never been inside this house. However she had a pretty good idea of what it should've looked like: clean, polished, overly normal... Definatly not how it looked now. There were blood stains everywhere, but mostly in a pool at the foot of the stairs and harry's wand. She saw two fat bodies and one skinny one sticking out of a cupboard under the stairs and almost gagged.

The transfiguration professor picked up the wand and paniced. "Potter?! Harry?! HARRY POTTER?!"

She lept over the blood and rushed up the stairs and opened the first door she saw, Petunia and Vernon's room. It was neat and tidy and the sight of it disgusted her. She knew how these people were. "Potter, are you in here?"

No answer came to her.

Minerva continued on going from room to room searching until she got to one door. It had at least twenty outside locks down the side and a wooden bar across the middle of it. And there was a cat door built in. _They had really wanted to keep someone in... Must be Harry's room. _Minerva thought as she pushed the door open.

The educator gasped as she gazed around the teenager's room. It was a complete disaster area. Books and parchment were strewn around and tacked up on the wall was a copy of Voldemort's letter. _He must've done more damage after he sent that letter. _she concluded.

The refined woman untacked the note and thought she saw quill marks showing through to the front of the parchment. So she turned it over to find Harry's original note. Her eyes zipped through it and just stared.

"I'm so sorry Harry... We should have never left you here." she sighed guiltily.

There was that last messy sentance though. '_Professor Dumbledore, you need to check by Sirius's mir-' _What did that mean? She looked around the room again when she saw a small mirror on Harry's bed. Mr. Black's Mirror!

Minerva ran to the bed and snatching the mirror and the spare note before she disapperated to Headquarters.

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_Wow! I think that's my longest chapter EVER!!_

_Kirby_

_P.S. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!:)!!!!!!!!!!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does._

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"Remus, you really should eat something dear. You're almost as thin as Harry is at the end of every summer." Mrs. Weasley said forcefully.

Remus looked at her with clouded, pained, eyes. "No thanks Molly. I'm not really all that hungry this morning."

"Eat."

"No _thank you, Molly._"

"Eat."

"No,_ thank you."_

"Eat."

"No!"

"Eat!"

"NO!"

"Now, Remus!"

"I SAID NO MOLLY!" he roared and a silence came over the group before blushed and spoke again. "Just give me some toast."

Molly handed him the toast and went back to cooking breakfast with a worried look in her eyes. "Does anyone know when Minerva will be back?"

A familiar voice behind her spoke. "Right now Molly, she just got back and she has grave news."

"Albus! Is Harry alright? Albus?"

Dumbledore had a far off look in his no longer twinkling blue eyes. "I just don't know Molly, but I wish I did."

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Harry Potter could only feel aching bones as he opened his exuasted emerald eyes. '_What hit me? Couldn't have been Dudley... So who-' _then he remembered, '_Oh Merlin, Voldemort!' _The boy jumped to his feet and instictivly reached for his wand, but it was gone.

'_I must've dropped it in the struggle...' _Harry thought. '_But where am I now?' _The young wizard looked around, but could only see leaky pipes and a small rickety staircase to the far side of the basement. But, what confused him was what he was in, a cage.

The cage was a circle and hanging off the ground. It had tons of thick metal bars on its perimeter and looked somewhat like a bird cage. Harry sighed and perched himself on a larger wooden bar running through the middle of the prison. That was when he realized something was wrong.

He had looked down to see that his arms were covered in feathers and were now wings.

Harry stared at the feathers in astonishment. They were a dazzling pure white with thin gold tips on the end. He looked down where his feet were supposed to be, but instead there were fierce, dangerous, golden talons about three inches long. Under his left wing was his scar that stood out in black against the snow white. If Harry would have looked in the mirror he would see shining, vibrant emerald green eyes and markings around his face where his glasses usually sat in front of his eyes.

'_I'm a phoenix.' _he realized. '_But is this my animagus form or has Voldemort done this...? What was that spell he said? Animinotverto, right? That has to have something to do with animagi... It's the beginning of the spell!' _

The Chosen One rolled his eyes. Was this the torture Riddle has in mind? All he did was help him become an animagus... That can't be right... And this probably is my animagus form, Riddle would've changed me to a baslisk or something if he had the choice.

Harry opened his golden beak and tried to snap the bars in half with the pressure to test his new strength, but before it could snap a red force field surronded the cage and left Harry squaking angrily in the back of the cage.

_'I hope the Order comes soon.'_

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_BEEEPPPP!!!! BBBEEEEEEPP!!! _Draco woke up with a jolt at the sound of his magical alarm clock. He picked up his wand and drowsily cast a silence charm onto it. The young Malfoy trudged over to his elegant, pure blood decorated, bathroom with his Donkey Kong slippers on.

He kicked off his clothes and hopped into the perfect temperature of water for his bath. But right as he was repeating his routine for the proper shampoo and conditioner application he remembered what today was. His initiation to follow in his father's footsteps as a high ranking Death Eater. Draco's spine shivered at the thought of the pain of a Dark Mark and his insides froze when he saw the clock. His ceremony started an hour ago.

"Oh, crap!" he yelped and went running out of the bathroom to put a Death Eater robe on and grease his blonde, silky, hair back behind his ears almost to his shoulders. The sixteen year old sprinted toward the room the Death Eaters were all supposed to meet at for the ceremony of branding. He pushed opened the oak doors and knelt before his master who was not looking pleased.

"Well, well, well, Draco. It seems that you are late. Lucius, can you tell me the punishment for disobeying my direct orders for a time or place?" Voldmort sneered and Lucius paled greatly and Narcissa fainted.

"My Lord," he pleaded, "the punishment is decided by yourself. Can you please spare my son my Lord?"

Riddle looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered. "The Malfoy's _have _served under myself greatly these past few weeks... Lucius, I have not decided what I will do with your son, maybe I will kill him, but I will ponder this. Bella, would you mind taking Draco to the basement?"

Bellatrix's eyes glimmered insanly. "Oh of course my Lord! No higher honor or pleasure." She grabbed Draco by the upper arm and drug him to the top of the stairs and pushed him down the rest of the way, making sure she had taken his wand.

"Thank you Bella, now let's discuss my plans for seizing Hogwarts."

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_Wow, this story is really fun to write. Expect lots of updates._

_kirby_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- Eye do knot own Harry Potter, and eye dun knot own Microsoft Word spell chequer, witch has let al of these misstakes thru Let this b a lesson; u cant rely on computers two no about the subtleties of the English language. Watt does u say two that bill gaits? Hmm?

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Draco groaned as he cracked open his eyelid to see an old decrepid basement. The leaky pipes were dripping dark brown murky water into a series of buckets. There was only a single flickering light bulb in the darkest corner of the dungeon, over a rusty old birdcage that was surronded by an ominous red glow.

The young Malfoy stood up dispite his moaning muscles and walked cautiously away from it to the other end of the room. There was a worn, bumpy old mattress on a cot set up in the corner and he ploped down on to it with a loud _CREEEEK!_

Draco's hand felt for his wand, but all he found was 15 crackers from a year ago, an old Albus Dumbledore Chocolate Frog Card (The candy and the card), and an extremly sour lemon drop.

He sighed and popped the lemon drop into his dry mouth. The candy exploded with sour liquid spewing all over the inside of his mouth, covering it in a layer of pure torture. The Slytherin swallowed the whole thing whole and laid about fourty-five unprintable cuss words while he waved his hand in front of his blistering hot tongue.

"Blah! Blah! BLAH!"

So he finally set the temperature of his tongue back to normal, and he heard a loud snake-like hiss from the corner with the birdcage. Draco's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, so he slowly moved his way over only to see a pure white phoenix with piercing green eyes. That wasn't the weirdest thing though.

Inside the rusty old birdcage sat a phoenix speaking in Parseltongue, at _him._

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Remus Lupin trudged into the sitting room to sit across from Minerva, who was shaking with fear. Once the whole Order was there the transfiguration teacher took a deep breath and started her tale.

"As you all know, we recieved a letter from You-Know-Who-" she shuddered, "I mean Voldemort. It stated that he had taken Harry and I left to try to find him at his relatives home. I arrived to a deserted house with three dead bodies -Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley- that were killed by the killing curse." Minerva here took another deep breath to calm herself. "I went up to Harry's room and I found a copy of the note, but when I turned it over I saw Harry's original letter. It said:

_-Order_

_For the record, still alive. (For now...) Can only just send this to you. Think Tom's outside, Professor Dumbledore, you need to check Snuffles's mir- _And it ended there."

There was a long silence as everyone suddenly took an interest in the floor. Mrs. Weasley, however, burst into tears while Arthur held her hand.

Dumbledore tugged at his beard and sighed. "I take full responsiblity for this Molly. I should've never left him with those people, blood protection or not he didn't deserve that." The old man's eyes dulled and he stood up, intending to leave the room. Molly just kept on sobbing relentlessly into her husband's soaked shoulder.

"Headmaster, where are you going? We have to find Harry before You-Know-Who....." Remus trailed off, unable to say more. The werewolf's frantic eyes shot to Minerva, pleading for answers. The duputy headmistress ignored him and sat up straight so her sharp eyes stared at Dumbledore. "I need to speak with you Albus, now."

He nodded and walked as steadily as he could with his trembling knees to the family room. "Is there something, you wish to tell me Minerva?"

The woman's eyes looked defeated as she shook her head yes and pulled out Harry's wand and sighed. "I found this in a pool of blood, Albus, I think he might be dead."

Dumbledore's eyes clouded over briefly as he stood up and paced around the kitchen. The headmaster shook his wrinkled head. "No, Minerva I refuse to believe that. Harry is a fighter and besides, that's not Tom's style to just kill him. He would not _just _let his worst enemy die..." He couldn't continue. The professor closed his dull, watery eyes, and sighed as he tried to pull himself together.

Minerva however, had more to confess. "But, Albus when I was at Mr. Potter's relative's house I read the letter and thought of the last sentance. I must've been Mr. Black's mirror he was speaking of. I took it and here it is. Why would Potter want you to check it though?"

Dumbledore grasped the worn mirror like it was his life on the line. "This mirror, can allow any creature to communicate with each other if the other is holding the twin mirror." He smiled slightly, though worry still lined his old face. "I recall young Mr. Black giving one to James in their 2nd year to speak to one another during detentions."

"However, Minerva I will deal with this. A more pressing matter is how are we going to tell Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger?"

Her eyes widened with pity. "I have no idea, but I suggest we tell them before Miss Granger finds out on her own."

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Tom Riddle stroked his wand in happiness. After all, what more could he want? Harry Potter is stored away, he finally got rid of that ferret, Draco, and his plan was already in action. Now all he needed to do was kill that crackpot, Dumbledore.

The Dark Lord smirked at the expression that will be on Dumbledore's face when he sees his favorite student being tortured to near death.

"And speaking of torture," Voldemort mused, "I believe I have some to start. Let's see how long you can go without food and water, Potter." He walked over to the basement door in his throne room, and locked them magically, closing off whatever exit the prisoners had left.

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_Is this chapter ok? I really need to work on its flow._

_kirby_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: Iith doesith notith ownith Harryith Potterith._

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"What the hell...?" Draco cautiously approched the weird bird. The Slytherin just stared at it as he got closer and he saw hope glittering in the phoenix's eyes. "No way... The Dark Lord has a phoenix?! A-a-and he taught it to hiss...?"

The birds eyes hardened as he raised his wings and beat them against the bars in protest and bit Draco's finger from in the cage.

"Ouch! Bloody pigeon, bit me!" He yelped and hit the cage, making it sway and the testy phoenix fall off his perch.

"_MALFOY!" _The pureblood jumped up and looked furiously around the room. No one was there. So he listened again, until he heard the voice again. "_Hey ferret, can you hear me?" _

The boy's eyes widened as he realized two things. The first was that the voice was in his head. But the second was more disturbing, Potter was making the voice.

"Potter?!" he whispered loudly, still looking around the room until his eyes stopped on the magnificent bird in the rusty cage.

_"Hey Malfoy, seems the Dark Idiot finally found me. Apparently my animagus form is a phoenix. Who would've thought, huh?" _Harry projected through his mind warily, "_When I get out of here I'm killing Dumbledore."_

Draco seemed at lost for words and only seemed to come up with, "Well, well, well, the great Harry Potter finally got caught. Tsk, tsk, always knew you were a failure."

_"Nah, Fate just despises me. Can't you tell, they put me as your cell mate? It's the ultimate torture." _Draco scowled at the Chosen One's words and hit the cage again, but this time the rust ring bolting the prison to the ceiling snapped. Harry tumbled down onto the floor and groaned mentally. _"Gee, thanks Malfoy. I really appreciated being knocked to the ground. But wait..."_

Harry snapped at the bars again, but no force field appeared. He tore at the metal with his strong talons and after about twenty minutes the phoenix animagus managed to free himself. Harry lept onto the cement floor and spread his wings out to their full extension. _"I never thought I'd say this, but... thanks." _

"Whatever Potter." Malfoy said, rolling his eyes, annoyed. The Slytherin watched as the bird experimented with flying without a broom. Harry flapped happily around and landed on his cell mate's bed.

_"So what're you in for Malfoy?" _Harry asked. _"Or is this your bedroom?" _

Draco growled and said, "Why would I tell _you_?"

Amusment glittered in Harry's eyes as well as some worry. "_What, can't discuss your little Death Eater plans with me?"_

The young man threw a piece of the metal bar at him and turned away from the irritating bird. _"Seriously Malfoy, why are you down here?" _The phoenix asked sternly. "_Does Voldemort just want you to torture me or did you do something?" _

"None of your buisness you bloody pigeon!" The blonde hollered.

_"Oh, so you did something... Hmm..." _Harry had a puzzled look on his face. _"Well, you probably didn't screw up a plan for him. Otherwise you'd already be dead.... Were you late for something?"_

"I said it's none of your buisness Potter!" Draco yelled louder, "What do you care? You'll probably get out of here anyway, with your bloody good luck. You have no idea how hard it is to be a Death Eater."

_"NO IDEA?!" _The furious phoenix boomed, almost giving Draco a migrane. _"NO IDEA?!! Do you __**know**__ what I've had to do? I'm not even allowed to __**sleep**__ anymore, Ferret! So don't you tell me I have no idea, 'cause I've had to watch every murder, EVERY ONE! I'd switch jobs with you in an instant if it wasn't with Voldemort."_

"Wait... WHAT?!"

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Albus Dumbledore paced around the Weasley's living room. What was Harry trying to tell him? Check the mirror... What was that supposed to mean? He had already tried to contact Harry by saying his name and only a no signal sign came to the screen.

The old man sighed and placed the mirror on the couch as he heard footsteps coming closer toward the room. "Ah, there you are Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger." Albus said, not bothering to ask them if they wanted a lemon drop. There were more important matters at hand.

"I have some very grave news about Harry." He said and the two teenagers eyes' widened as they sat down. "Yesterday I believe your twin brothers found Harry's owl at the window, and read the letter that was attached. But that letter wasn't from Harry." The man closed his wrinkled eyes.

"B-but who could've gotten to Hedwig?" Hermione said with a stutter to make Quirrel proud. "After all, with the protection on the house-"

"There lies the problem Miss Granger. The trespasser broke the charm on the house somehow." Dumbledore looked her straight in the eye and could see the gears turning in her head.

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said hesitantly. "but wouldn't it take a really strong wizard to break through the-"

The youngest Weasley boy never finished his sentance as Hermione cut him off with her shrill shriek. "VOLDEMORT TOOK HARRY?! How could you let this happen? Harry trusted you!" The bushy haired witch stormed out of the room, snatching the two letters from the stunned Professor's withered hand.

Albus turned to Ron again. "I can tell you the rest of the story, if you want to hear it from me. Minerva knows it also."

"I'll have Professor McGonagall tell me, if your don't mind sir." And with that Ron followed Hermione's route out of the room toward McGonagall.

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_Sorry about this guys! I completely forgot to update this. I actually finished this chapter weeks ago. Oops. R&R_

_kirby_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

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_"Wait...WHAT?!"_

The phoenix glared at the blonde Death Eater and mentally replied, _You heard me, Malfoy._ Draco raised an eyebrow and stepped back from the glare.

"How the hell can you think your job is worse than ours?!" Malfoy demanded. "All you bloody do is show up, get lucky with a rescue, and survive."

Harry's eyes could've cut through steel at the glare he was sending the boy. The Chosen One leaped into the air to look Malfoy right in the eye and whispered in his head, _You can leave Voldemort._

"Leave?!" The young Death Eater yelped. "We'd be hunted down. No chance of living, smart arse."

He looked to the Gryffindor smartly, but Harry only repeated his words. _You can leave. _The anger that was burning in Harry's eyes was diminished to a small flame as he continued slowly. _I can't. I never had a choice in the matter like you did, Malfoy. My life was laid out a long time ago, and now I can never get away from it. Neither can live while the other survives... _Harry paused to bow his head in defeat and sigh. _I don't think I'm the one that will be making sure that line comes true._

"What the hell are you-" Draco started, before he heard the door creek open and loud footsteps traveling down the stairs. He whispered frantically for the phoenix to hide and Harry settled in the rafters.

The intruder strode down the final stair and turned his face toward Draco with a dull look in his eyes. He raised his wand and shot a killing curse at him. The man didn't hear the boy scream "Father!" Nor did he see the white streak shoot down from the ceiling and block the curse as he walked away.

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Draco stared at the green flames that enveloped the creature in front of him. He watched as Harry burned and melted to ashes as a baby phoenix reappeared in the remains. The fledgling hissed in anger and shook away the ash that darkened his plumage. "Potter?"

The young phoenix looked up drowsily and swayed on the spot. _Y-y-yeah? _He replied shakily, Harry laid back down in the ashes as he started to feel light-headed.

"The fire?" The Slytherin asked, still shocked that his own father almost murdered him. Harry looked like he was about to pass out as he stuttered out weakly, _A-a-a-a side effect of dying as a phoenix. _

Draco's eyes widened. "B-b-but, you're not... Dead are you?"

_N-n-no, but pretty darn close. Phoenixes don't die, they just burn when they were supposed to die and are reborn. Although I don't think my human form appreciated that killing curse. _Harry shivered involentary and felt some of his strength returning into the small fledgling body.

"I didn't need help from a-" Draco started, but Harry hissed something in Parseltounge to silence him and replied, _Yes, you did Malfoy. You were about to be hit with a killing curse. _The greasy Slytherin was about to interupt, but Harry continued._ Now just suck up your pride and shut it. I'm exuasted from saving your ass and need some time to get back to my full grown form._

He had nothing to say to that, so he just watched in quiet fasination as Harry began to grow back into his two and a half foot self in around an hour. The phoenix inspected himself quickly before turning back his attention to the young Malfoy. _We need to get out of here, now. _

"No way I'm going anywhere with you Potter!" He answered rudely. Draco glanced at the stairs for a moment until he hesitated and said. "Actually, maybe leaving is a good idea."

_Yeah, I thought so. _Harry chuckled, but it disappeared as he went on. _I might be able to lower the wards around the basement so I can communicate with the Order. But it's risky, I might alert- _

He stopped as pain shot across where his scar should be. It felt as if knives and red-hot pokers were being shoved through his head and into the depths of his complex mind. Since Harry kept his mind open to talk to Draco, it left him vulnerable to Voldemort's attacks and his visons.

He tried to shut his mind, but it was too late. Riddle was already inside.

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Dumbledore studied the mirror again and almost threw it against the wall in anger. He just didn't know what to do. Harry had been too cryptic in his message and now... How the man wished he could've traveled back in time and asked him what he was thinking.

Then it hit him. Albus jumped out of the dining room chair and grasped the mirror with both hands. He stared at the device and spoke loudly and clearly, "Harry Potter's mind."

The mirror shimmered and where the glass should have been was a very distressed Harry Potter floating in a black room. The boy seemed to have sensed him and turned to face the withered old man. "Professor, thank Merlin." Harry sighed, relieved. "I don't know how much time I have before he finds me in here, so I have to hurry."

"Harry where are you?!" Dumbledore demanded. The poor boy looked scared to death and kept scanning the room with his tired eyes.

His favorite pupil ignored his question."Professor, you need to get everyone from the Order out of Headquarters and somewhere that I would never look. You can't let me no where they are right now. He'll find out, my shields are fading from exaustion."

The Headmaster couldn't stop himself from shaking as he nodded and asked, "Harry, where are you?"

"Where the ferrets sleep." Harry responded cryptically. The Chosen One started to get more frantic. "He shouldn't be able to see you and remember what I said-" Harry broke off from his sentance as he was thrown against the wall behind him by a red blast.

Fear glistened in his student's weary green eyes, but was quickly masked with defiance and fury as they overcame his features. Dumbledore could only watch as Voldemort grabbed him by the throught and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Well, well, Potter. I see you've redecorated again. Last time I visited you kept your secrets here." Voldemort grinned evily and walked around the boy in circles. He never gave Harry the time to answer as he screamed, "_Crucio!" _Dumbledore flinched as he heard the Unforgivable curse uttered.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to keep from thrashing, but he was too tired. The curse sent pure fire into his blood and made his whole body seize up and start burning. All he could feel was the fire and pain spreading. It felt like hours of pure torture when it was only a few minutes before Voldemort stopped the curse.

"Get out of my head Riddle," The Boy Who Lived threatened weakly, "you're not welcome here." Harry pushed himself into a standing position and leaned against the wall. He glared at the Dark Lord, putting all the emotions for him into it.

"Scared Potter?" Voldemort asked, pointing his wand at Harry's throught.

"You wish." Harry punched the dark wizard right in the eye and tried to slam down his barriers again. It worked.

Albus watched as a shield formed around the room and thrust Tom Riddle out of it. Dumbledore realized Harry was struggling to maintain the connection and heard a soft, "Hurry," as the mirror darkened.

He was alone.

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_Woah, longest chapter yet!_

_kirby_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

_**WARNING!!! **_

_**This story might get very morbid, so if it isn't your thing, uhh... too bad.**_

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_

Malfoy stared as the bird thrashed and hissed in pain. It lasted for about a minute before the feathers, beak, talons, and wings disappeared, leaving a fully clothed Harry Potter screaming his head off. The Slytherin backed off into a dark corner to wait for the boy's sudden attack to fade.

"Always knew he was a nutter," Draco muttered, "but this is just _weird_..." And as if the blonde had said something to annoy him, Harry jolted awake and moaned softly. He turned his head toward him and rasped, "Pretend you're dead in the back, Malfoy. We have visitors."

The blonde felt his insides drop to his feet at the tired teenager's tone.

The Gryffindor rubbed his head as he tried to stand, but much to his surprise, Draco grabbed his arm and pulled him to a standing position. Harry blinked for a moment in surprise before he felt his scar burn and sensed the endless rage on the other end. "T-t-this isn't your fight. Hide and take this." Harry handed him a small mirror and Draco raised an eyebrow that was lowered as soon as footsteps were echoing through the prison. Malfoy didn't look back as he laid down eagle spread in the back where he wouldn't be noticed.

The wizard stormed down the last step and screamed, "POTTER!"

Harry didn't even flinch, but closed his eyes when his scar erupted, blinding him in searing pain. Voldemort paced over to the teenager and placed two finger forcefully onto the old wound. Harry yelped and slapped his hand to his forehead. "That hurts, doesn't it Potter?" Riddle crooned. "Well, it's about to get worse."

The Gryffindor knew what was coming. He pressed himself against the wall and concentrated on the Weasleys' and the Order to drown out his sheer terror. _I am __**not **__dying today. _He thought. _I have to be strong. No going insane today._ Harry ran their names through his head occasionally adding Hermione and his teachers while he attempted to slow down his breathing.

The claming was short lived.

A deep red light shot out from Riddle's wand and found its way to Harry's ribcage only to cut through six of them like a knife slicing butter. The teenager groaned and slipped to his knees. Voldemort smirked and lifted Harry into shackles hanging on the ceiling, he was trapped.

Harry lifted his head to glare at the dark wizard and spit blood in his face. "You little filthy muggle-lover," Voldemort hissed menacingly, "I'm going to torture you until you _beg _for me to kill you. _Crucio!" _The prisoner writhed from the pain and bit down on his tounge to stop himself from screaming. Harry concentrated: Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie- Voldemort grinned evilly, seeing his will power as a challenge.

The boy was determind. Percy, Gred, Forge- "_Crucio!"_ Knives and tacks were forced into his body while Harry bit his lip and writhed against the wall. Ron, Hermione- _"Crucio!" _Blood ran down the side of his chin and dripped onto the floor as Harry tasted the metal tasting liquid fill his dry mouth from the cut he made in his lip.

_No! _He thought desperatly, _I can do this! _Voldemort laughed at the sight of his enemies blood and repeated, _"Crucio!" _This one was much worse. Liquid ice filled his senses and his blood froze. The curse was held out longer and the knives returned, stabbing his weak body mercilessly. He could barely continue the names. Moody, Remus- _"Crucio!"_

Harry felt his mind shudder at the beating as his blood turned to fire and a blood curdling scream escaped his bloody lips. He was painicing now. Alice and Frank Longbottom had only lasted six Cruciartus Curses before they couldn't even remember their son. What he ended up like them?

"Well, Potter it seems you're still sane, tsk, tsk." Voldemort smiled sinisterly, "Maybe you will respond better to a certain Death Eater. She's been wanting to return a favor." Harry hissed as loudly as he could and could only watch as the nut-job waltzed into the basement from the stairs.

She bowed for her master and kissed the hem of his robes. "Thank you my Lord." She crooned, "You are to generous to me."

Voldemort gestured toward the prisoner and Bellatrix Lestrange strode over so her face was inches from Harry's. He glared at his godfather's murderer and hissed in Parseltounge to Voldemort happily finding hissing was easier on him than talking. _**"So Tom," **_Riddle's face scrunched up in anger and threw a huge cutting curse to his chest that Harry chose to ignore, _**"why again are all your Death Eaters idiots? I mean seriously, who recruits this bloody headcase?!" **_

Voldemort only smirked as Bellatrix, sensing the unknown insult, pelted Harry with bruising spells, cutting charms, bone splintering hexes, and concusion curses. The spells kept coming and at that point Harry was too hurt to feel his injuries and his torturer knew it. She started to go back to her master's method. _"Crucio!"_

Harry couldn't move without bone moving up against the others and breaking completely, but he had no choice. The Gryffindor struggled and heard Bellatrix's mad laughter, "I killed Sirius Black! I killed little Potter's godfather and now little Potter's friends will all be killed."

Her words triggered something in what was left of Harry's fragile mind. He felt his weakness dissapate and his magic surged from his body. Green light hit the insane woman square in the chest as she dropped like a fly. The last thing he heard before he passed out was Voldemort's screech of fury and Bella's body hit the floor.

* * *

Harry floated around the barren black mind room and scowled. "Bloody Riddle... Always screwing up my shields..." The Gryffindor concentrated for a moment before he thrust all his energy at the walls, hopeing for a barrier. Nothing.

The teenager felt none of the injuries that he had sustained while he was drifting around his head and he was quiet thankful for that. But the Gryffindor had to wait for his body to heal a little before he woke and felt the extense of his wounds. Harry sighed and let his mind wander for a minute. However, when the Chosen One lets his mind go he tends to think of very unpleasant memories.

_A figure tumbled through the veil._

Flash.

_A blast of green light._

Flash.

_Ginny at the end of the Chamber._

Flash.

_"Kill the spare!"_

Flash.

_Nagini slithering up to an unsuspecting Arthur._

Flash.

_A figure tumbled through the veil._

Flash.

_"Crucio!"_

Flash.

_"Neither can live while the other survives."_

Flash.

_A rat cutting his hand off._

Flash.

_A figure tumbled through the veil._

Flash.

_Bellatrix, wand ablaze, torturing the weak student in chains._

Flash.

_Quirrel standing in front of a mirror, unwrapping his turban._

Flash.

_"Just kill me now, Dumbledore."_

Flash.

_"If death is nothing, kill the boy."_

Flash.

_A figure tumbled through the veil._

Flicker.

_"Neither can live while the other survives."_

Harry bowed is head. "I'm not getting out Voldemort's alive, am I?" He looked around at the walls of his mind and his eyes lit up in determination. "Well then, I'm gonna make Tommy's life a living hell. Dead or alive, and that's a promise."

The blackness of the room faded.

* * *

_TBC_

_I like this chapter a lot for some reason... Maybe I'm just morbid. _

_kirby_

_P.S. Review please!!! And by the way, the poll on my profile will determine how fast the next update comes, because if Danny Phantom wins, I update Serena's Trap. If Harry Potter wins, I update this and Horrible Timeing. __**SO VOTE!!!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter _

_**I NEED HELP! I CAN'T FIND A REALLY GREAT STORY THAT I READ MONTHS AGO.**_

_**It's about how Harry faces Tom in the Riddle house, stabs him with Gryffindor's sword, writes his will, and kills himself.**_

_**If anybody can find the story I will give you the next chapter before anyone else gets it. Just PM or review to tell me the name of the fic and I'll tell you if that's it.**_

_**THANK YOU!!!**_

_

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The pain came first, it hurt all over. However, his chest and scar were the worst. He could feel the sharp edges of bone scraping carelessly against his fragile lungs and the skin covering them and his scar was no longer bleeding, but it shot pain through his head. His leg took a close second with the blood pouring out of the wound like water out of an upside down canteen, and it _throbbed_. The rest of his body just seared from the many Crucios he'd been put under.

_Tom Riddle has outdone himself. _Harry thought warily and tried to open his eyes. His heavy eyelids protested at the movement, but opened just enough to see the Slytherin sitting a few feet in front of him, staring at the staircase. "H-how long have I been out? Where's Voldemort?" Harry rasped out quietly, his voice hoarse from screaming. He winced at the pain his chest was giving and kept himself from crying out.

Draco jumped up at the sound of his weak voice and responded, "A couple hours. What did you do?" Draco looked worriedly at the young Gryffindor. The kid had sustained six torture curses, but five was when people started to go insane...

"Oh," Harry wheezed, "I punched him in the face when he tried to kill me in my own head." Draco gasped and looked at him in surprise and awe. The Boy Who Lived smiled, but erupted into a coughing fit only to vomit over his shoulder, it was more blood.

"What the...?" Draco asked, shocked at the sudden change.

Harry closed his eyes in pain and replied, "Bellatrix. Don't know h-how m-many bones they broke. Losing too much b-b-blood." He tried to speak in short sentances, but even that made a rib shift and severly puncture a lung.

Harry struggled for air and his eyes widened. The Chosen One looked at the Slytherin and knew he wouldn't be waking up again without help. "M-mirror." Draco shakily reached into his robes and dug out the mirror. Harry felt his vison fading as he grabbed the glass and muttered, "Albus D-d-dumbledore."

* * *

Professor Dumbledore looked at the group he gathered in the sitting room: Miss Hermione Granger, Mr. Ronald Weasley, Alastor, Remus, Minerva, and Mr. Bill Weasley. They all sat down as he began to speak. "Now, I have called you all here to discuss the predicament Harry is in right now-"

Dumbledore broke off as Hermione, who had been glaring daggers at him the entire time, screamed shrilly, "PREDICAMENT?! HE'S BEEN CAPTURED!"

Albus nodded sadly, not dening the girl as an attempt to calm her down. The professor realized everyone still wanted him to continue and silently cast a calming charm on the room before he spoke again. "As I was saying, I have called you here to speak in private about Harry." He glanced at the bushy-haired teenager, but only recieved a death glare. "His letter mentioned a mirror, so I have been trying to contact him through Sirius's mirror. It wasn't until last night that I succeeded."

Remus's eyes brightened slightly as he felt a glimmer of hope from the old man's gentle words. He felt the pit that formed in his stomach shrink and he grinned. "You've talked to Harry?"

The headmaster didn't change his expression and nodded. "Yes Remus, however, I merely spoke to a representation of him in his own mind. I have a theory that something was done that Harry couldn't hold onto the mirror and it was transferred to his conscience, therefore, he could talk to us only by his mind."

The room brightened dramatically in mood and Ron said, "Can we talk to him now sir?" He looked eagerly at the worn mirror next to Dumbledore with excitement. "He could tell us everything-"

Albus raised a hand to silence him when he saw the mirror flash and a face appear. The headmaster felt his heart fall when he saw the face that came up on the screen.

Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Tom Riddle strode confidentally into the Dining Hall and sat down at his seat, or as he liked to call it, a throne. The two other Death Eaters in the Hall took a seat directly to his right and to his left.

"My Lord," the one to his right said, "I have noticed that Dumbledore has not left to Order of the Phoenix Headquarters in days, but has not planned any attack or defense. I am concerned-"

Voldemort hissed in delight, "Ah, no need to be concerned Severus." Snape frowned and felt his 'poker face' fall for a moment. "You see, Dumbledore is very worried about his favorite student. Harry Potter has disappeared."

The potions master felt worry and shock bubble in his chest and it must have shone in his face because the Dark Lord chuckled. "I haven't told you yet have I Severus? Harry Potter has taken up residence in our dungeons."

The other Death Eater, Fenrir Greyback, felt a mad grin spread across his face as he looked at the door to the staircase, but Snape remained ampathic about the boy. "What do you want us to do my Lord?" He asked respectfully, while in his mind he was cussing nonstop at the Riddle.

"You Severus? I want you to do nothing." Voldemort spun to face his werewolf servant. "Greyback, however, I believe there are muggles to terrorize. Take four others that have not aquired Dark Marks and enjoy yourselves." Greyback bowed clumsily and ran out of the room calling for four Death Eaters.

Voldemort returned his attention the Snape and dismissed him, leaving the snake-like man to heal his bruised eye, only to find that it wouldn't heal. Rage boiled in his chest and sparks flew from his wand as he growled, "I'm going to kill that filthy muggle-loving pest!"

* * *

_Ahhh!! So many cliffes of doom! Please review!_

_kirby_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

_And this is NOT SLASH! There is no HarryXDumbledore pairings or HarryXDraco pairings. Just a reminder, people._

_Thank you for all who review, I really appreciate it. I tried to make this chapter longer, but can you guys review? I'm not sure if this was very well done... _

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Albus Dumbledore grabbed the mirror off the armrest of the couch, only to see a blonde teenager staring back at him with terrified eyes. "P-p-professor!" Draco stuttered out.

The headmaster felt his face harden. This boy was never scared in his office when he was punished, so he wasn't intimidated by him.... So why was Draco afraid? Albus said, "Mr. Malfoy, where is Harry and why do you have his mirror?"

"Right beside me, sir." The teenager answered his voice was shaking, "H-h-he said your name, and gave me the mirror right when he was b-blacking out.... Professor, we're prisoners in the basement of M-m-malfoy Manor. I think the D-d-dark L-lord... W-w-well, I'll just let you see him."

The mirror was turned away from the wizard and faced a broken figure on the wall, covered in blood, and had a scar on the top of his forehead. Dumbledore gasped in horror, "Harry..." Rage bubbled in his chest, and worry lined his face as he stared at his favorite student. The fury only grew when he realized Harry was barely breathing.

Albus felt tears well up in his eyes, but he blinked them away when Harry's back arched like he'd been shocked with lightning bolts. The tortured boy didn't wake when his scar started to bleed, and at least a liter of dark, oxygen rich, blood flowed down his cut face. Dumbledore winced and heard a gasp from Draco as the blonde placed the mirror somewhere, so the headmaster could watch what was happening.

The Slytherin rushed toward Harry and looked at the headmaster for advice, but Albus could only watch in terror, as his student fell limp again in his shakles that mounted him to the wall. The blood continued to run down his face.

Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore realized he had had enough and said, "We'll be right there. Try to stop the bleeding Mr. Malfoy." The teenager nodded and stopped the connection.

Albus looked up from the mirror and saw a room full of people staring at him like he'd grew a seperate head. He stood up from the sitting room couch, looked everyone in the eye and said gravely, "We have to hurry. Apperate to Malfoy Mannor, Harry is dying."

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Draco ripped of the end of Harry's sleeve and pressed it onto his open scar, trying to stop the waterfall of red liquid that was rushing out of his cellmate's head. But it was no use, the blood kept flowing out of the boy's scar mercilessly. Draco was about to rip more cloth of the boy's person, but the blood stopped. The blonde's eyebrows furrowed as Harry's back arched again, but the bleeding didn't start like last time.

He took the cloth away from Harry's forehead and saw the scar that had made the teenager so famous, reclosed itself. Draco shrugged and slumped against the wall across from the dangling Potter to attempt to fall asleep. His last thought before he slept was, _Maybe this is getting better!_

But he didn't know how wrong he was.

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Pain. He normally felt it everyday, so you'd think Harry would be immune to it by now... Right? Nope. No matter how many times you get hit with a Crucio it hurts just as much as if you never had it. But this pain was so much worse than the torturing curse.

This pain had been... blinding, mind numbing, mentally diminishing, pain. He couldn't feel anything, think, or even see. Harry couldn't even tell you if he saw black or white. He was in too much pain to be able to comprehend anything.

_And of course me, Harry Potter, the Chosen One, ends up with it. That figures. _He thought, _Yes, let's put the savior of the world in intense mental trauma. That's a brilliant idea. We'll unleash the seven levels of pure hell-fire on this unfortunate teenager. _

But the pain had left eventually, and as the pain disappeared, Harry was left alone in a dark room. He had never been in this place before, and Harry shivered as he felt the evil radiate from the walls. He knew then that this was where Voldemort was able to access his mind first, his gateway to Harry Potter's fragile mind. Wonderful.

Harry felt so weak that he sat down in the cold room, uncaring that Voldemort could come right in and kill him. The boy was just too tired. Of course, he wasn't physically tired, Harry couldn't feel his injuries in here, but those curses and taunts from Bella and Riddle had significantly lowered his already tiny defenses, due to the Department of Mysteries incident. When Voldemort attacked again, he will not be able to fight him.

Harry scowled at the thought while he sat in the middle of the room, waiting for his doom to come. _It's a good thing no one tells me anything, _he thought warily, _since I'm about to have my head dissected by a completly psyco Dark Idiot. But wait.... _Harry would've slapped himself for the idiocy he was experiencing if he hadn't been so exausted. _DAMN! The prophecy and Headquarters! _

The Boy Who Lived shook his head in rage and said, "I will _**not **_show him the only advantage over him. And everyone is at Headquarters... Damn it! The Weasleys, Hermione, all those Order members... They will _**not **_die." Harry pushed those bits of information to the deepest caverns of his mind, protecting them to the fullest of his ability from Tom Riddle.

He could only hope that it was enough.

Harry pursed his lips in dread and worry about what was to come, but he pushed it away as he felt an intruder press into his mind. The pain came back and attacked his senses once more, making his heart fail to beat for a quick moment, but Harry didn't notice. All he saw past the pain was a snake-like figure standing over him, and then a vision coming into his vision.

_He was standing at the front window of Malfoy Manor that over looked a calm lake with little ducks on it. However the land around the lake was anything but calm. Seven figures were casting spells at a rapid pace trying to break down the Parseltounge wards He had set up. _

_His eyes narrowed when he stepped foreward to see who he was going to kill today, and saw Albus Dumbledore with his precious followers in tow. His fury doubled and instantly invaded Potter's mind. Potter was going to pay and his friends were going to __**die**__._

Harry gasped as the vision passed only to see that Voldemort had left. He was going for his friends! The teenager shut his eyes and looked for something, anything, that could help. He scanned his entire mind and was about to give up when he felt something from the depths of his head. He felt power.

It surged up Harry's form, and sparked feebly around his fingers. There was just barely enough left. Harry smiled and took a deep breath. Then without thinking what he was going to do, he mindlessly roared the protection spell that a very dear friend had taught him long ago.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

But he didn't mean to think it in Parseltounge...

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Remus charged the wards surronding the manor, throwing spells left and right to try to break down the shield the kept his pup inside. He saw Albus and the others doing the same, but no matter what they threw at it, it absorbed and grew stronger. They couldn't get in. The werewolf snarled and his eyes widened as a jet of green soared past his right shoulder, akmost killing him on the spot. Lupin looked around to see a furious Voldemort firing off killing curses at the seven rescuers.

Dumbledore looked so angry at the sight of Voldemort that he turned dark red, and steam almost came out of his ears, he was murderously angry. The headmaster ordered them to group together behind him, and growled a very unAlbus-like growl.

Remus let out another snarl, but it soon disappeared when he saw a bright white light appear in the manor. The werewolf stopped and stared at the light as it came closer and closer until it was in the yard behind Voldemort only a few yards. Remus recognized it instantly. He put a hand on Dumbledore's shoulder to get his attention and when the professor turned to him he whispered, "That's Harry's patronous Albus! He's still alive!" A small twinkle burst into his former teacher's eyes as the luminous stag advanced toward Voldemort.

"Riddle!" Harry's voice boomed from the stag's mouth, and Voldemort spun around at the noise.

"That's not possible! I had you cornered, Potter!" The snake-man shook off his inital shock and sneered, "No matter, they will still die." The stag's eyes emerald eyes seemed to glow in anger and pure rage. Remus knew that Voldemort had hit the wrong nerve. The stag charged Voldemort and hit him square in the chest. He sent the Dark Lord the the ground and scooped him up with his magnificent antlers, only to throw him into his own shield. Voldemort struggled to his feet and blasted as many curses as he could at the stag.

But it wasn't a stag anymore.

Where the silver deer was a glittering silver phoenix flew. It trilled loudly and dodged all the curses that came his way. Remus looked at the old man in front of him again, only to see the man break out in a worried frown. He was going to ask what was wrong, but the phoenix dove down to Voldemort, talons outstretched, and clawed deep into his face. The Dark Lord sent curses flying its way again, but as the phoenix dodged all of them he screamed out something in snake language, and waved his wand as he disappeared from the manor.

The phoenix morfed back into a stag and galloped toward the ward shield in front of the group. His eyes seemed to brighten when he saw the unharmed wizards and witch, and he hissed, "Shshshshshshshshssssssshshshshs."

The stag bowed it's head as the ward fell and Hermione wrapped her arms around the stag's neck in a tight hug. The animal seemed to appreciate to gesture, but morfed back to his phoenix form. The witch squeeked as he changed, and smiled as he went directly to Dumbledore's shoulder.

The phoenix looked at his mentor's newly withered arm and blinked twice, letting two tears fall onto the blackened flesh. A white blast filled the yard, but as it disapated it left the cursed arm unmarked and back to it's normal white. Dumbledore felt his eyes widen. Fawkes' tears hadn't even healed that arm! So how did....?

But the phoenix ignored the headmaster's shock, and took off toward Malfoy Manor. Harry wasn't going to last much longer.

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Draco was fast asleep against the wall of the basement they were being kept prisoner. Harry hadn't had another attack for awhile, so he figured it would be a good time to take a short nap.

Probably not his best idea.

The Slytherin was forced to awaken by a bright light. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and opened them only to see a dazzling silver stag staring at him with deep green eyes. He jumped back in shock and recognized those emerald orbs. "Potter?!" He asked. The stag bowed it's head as a nod and galloped up the stairs and through the door.

Feeling a little put out and confused, Draco walked over to Harry's body. He looked the same as he had moments before the Malfoy had gone to bed, but Draco had a feeling something was very wrong. He looked at the sixteen year old and it hit him.

Harry wasn't breathing.

"Oh shit!" He screamed. The Boy Who Lived died on his watch and now everyone was going to kill him. He'll have to flee the country, grow a beard, and live as a hermit for the rest of his life in some island on the Pacific Ocean where no one could come for revenge. Draco felt his muscles tighten from his stress and he checked for a pulse from the boy, but found none.

The Chosen One was dead.

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_Wow, that was much better than I thought it was going to be. Please review, I NEED feedback on this one. _

_kirby_

PS I've reached 10,000+ words!!!!!!!!!!! YEY!!! That's more than any of my other stories!


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I never will, even if I forget to write the disclaimer._

_Ok, sorry this took so long. I've been having writers block and lazyness syndrome._

_**Enjoy! AND REVIEW!!!!!**_

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Albus ran down the basement stairs that the phoenix had stopped at, after stunning the only remaining Death Eater at Malfoy Manor, Peter Pettigrew, and ordering his group to watch for Voldemort. He stepped onto the cold concrete floor alone, but was instantly stopped by a blonde Slytherin, Draco Malfoy.

"Professor Dumbledore!" The teenager yelped, while shrinking back at the old man's harsh blue gaze, he murmered, "He's over there." Dumbledore nodded, and told him to go upstairs and wait with the others while he got Harry. Draco winced at the mention of the Order, but he did as he was told and ran up the stairs.

The old man walked cautiously over to his favorite student and froze at the sight of his mangled body. "Harry..." He whispered, hardly able to find his voice. This simply couldn't be Harry Potter, the Chosen One, The Boy Who Lived, his favorite student, and surrogate grandson. It just couldn't... But there was no mistaking the messy jet black hair that was strewn across his face. This was Harry. Albus took a closer look at the boy chained to the wall and he felt tears running down his old, wrinkled face when he realized that the child was not breathing. He rushed forward to check for a pulse, a small hope, but found nothing, and screamed the first name that came to mind. "REMUS!"

The headmaster wiped away his tears as the werewolf took the stairs three at a time to reach him. "Albus, is Harry alrigh-" He stopped when he saw the figure on the wall, and murmered, "Oh Merlin no.... No, no, no, no....."

Remus looked at Albus for orders, but he just closed his eyes and said sadly, "H-he's gone Remus, we were too late. He's gone..." Remus fell to his knees and put his head in his hands, crying hysterically, and the old headmaster tasted salty tears run down into his mouth. He lifted his wand with a shaking hand, and whispered, "_Reashio!" _

The chains that held the dead boy snapped open as the teenager fell lifeless into Dumbledore's arms. Albus let out a sob, and hugged the dead child in his arms fiercly before helping Remus up from the floor. They were about to go back up the stairs when the silver phoenix flew down to them. It bowed it's head slightly to the two men before it flew into Harry's scar.

The boy gasped and sucked in a shallow breath of air, while opening his brilliant green eyes. "HARRY!" The two men screamed. However, the teenager only smiled slightly before closing his eyes again, and knew no more.

But, he was alive.

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Albus scrambled for his wand and said to Remus, "Harry needs medical attention, I'm taking him to Poppy, she's knows him better than any other mediwitch or healer." He sent a worried glance at Harry. "Get the others to the Burrow and meet me there, and bring Mr. Malfoy with you." Remus nodded and sprinted up to the next floor as the headmaster waved his wand with a shaking hand, and Apperating out of Malfoy Manor.

Albus ran to Harry's reserved bed in the hospital wing a laid him down while yelling for Madam Pomfrey.

The mediwitch walked in and said, "Headmaster! What's wron-" Her voice cracked when she saw who was in her wing and whispered, "Albus, that _can't _be Harry..."

He bowed his head and replied softly, "Voldemort." Madam Pomfrey jumped and shuddered at the name in fear, but immediatly turned to her patient. However, she hadn't even moved her wand before Harry started thrashing and gasping for air.

Albus ran over to his side as Madam Pomfrey sent blue jets of light into his neck, attempting to clear his airways, but it was no use. Harry started to turn a sickly light blue, while Dumbledore who was trying in vain to get him to stop moving, heard a deafining _**CRACK **_from Harry's left arm as it collided with the side of the hospital bed.

The lost Headmaster turned his no longer twinkling blue eyes to the mediwitch, pleading silently for an answer, but she had none. "Albus," she murmered, "this is happening inside his head. We can't do anything more than stay with him."

Dumbledore nodded sadly and grasped Harry's right hand in comfort as Harry's sounds of choking suddenly stopped, and the boy started to breathe in very short, ragged, breaths. Poppy waved her wand over the boy, casting spells at lightning speed before she suddenly froze.

"W-was the bruise there before Albus?" She stuttered out, pointing at the finger shaped bruises that curled around Harry's neck. The old man's eyebrows furrowed as he took a closer look at the purple blotches and whispered astonished, "No Poppy, those are new."

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Harry loved his mind, he really did. But the Boy Who Wouldn't Bloody Die didn't particuarily love the whole 'Dark Psyco can possess him and read his memories' thing. To be honest he really hated that part. And why do they always come during important things or when everyone is watching? Like sleep, exams, or in the middle of an atrium, for instance. But Riddle was reaching new lows now. I mean, attacking him while he's in Dumbledore's protecting arms? Pathetic!

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Harry asked the snake-like figure in front of him, angrily. "Seriously, this invading my mind crap is getting old, fast."

Voldemort grabbed the weakened boy by the throught and slammed him into the hard, unforgiving wall as hard as the physically possible, while screaming, "YOU DARE?! I WILL MURDER YOU POTTER! AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH THAT YOU DESERVE!"

Harry smirked and replied in a whisper, "Been there, done that. You've threatened me with that almost every year since I was eleven. No originality in villians anymore, is ther-" But he was rather rudly inturrupted by Tom Riddle attempting to choke him to death, while the Dark Lord punched him again and again into the boy's small chest.

These were the times where he was sure as hell thankful he couldn't feel those broken ribs or that punctured lung, but he still needed air, even in this state. Harry struggled to fill his lungs with oxygen as his enemy squeezed his tiny neck harder and harder, laughing at the sight of Harry squirming the entire time The teenager's face started to turn blue, but then quickly changed to purple when Voldemort punched him in the throught. Harry gasped, trying desperatly to inhale a few mouthfulls of air, when he felt hands leave his neck. The boy dropped to the floor, breathing in and out, and clutching his airways.

Harry looked up at Voldemort who sneered and said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have secrets and memories to look through." And the Chosen One couldn't do anything to stop him.

He was too weak.

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_Good? Bad? Horrible? PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry again that it took so long._

_kirby_


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and never, ever will. _

_Please update ok?!!! I love how many I'm getting, and I can't get enough of them!_

_This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has EVER reviewed, suggested, PMed, faved, or alerted this story. THANK YOU READERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1_

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Harry Potter laid in a limp heap against the wall. He could only barely feel his tired heart beat and his air deprived lungs expand, but he was alright. Voldemort hadn't wanted to kill him in one beating. The Dark Lord wanted to savor Harry's death for as long as possible, to get his revenge. He wanted Harry to feel pain where he shouldn't have to, his mind, his only safe place until now.

And it hurt like hell.

Harry winced as he felt Voldemort's fury erupt when the snake figured out what his enemy's head was like when you were in there long-term.

You see, Harry Potter's mind was built like the best security system in the universe. To get to his deepest secrets you must tear through the different parts. However, it isn't that simple, Harry's mind was also made to be a maze that only he knew the way through.

_He's going to destroy me from the inside out, _Harry realized with a tired groan, _and for some reason he and I can only do magic that effects the outside world here. But now that I think about it's a blessing and a curse... _Harry smiled weakly at the picture of Riddle without magic, in an extremly elaborate corn maze, banging his head against a wall of corn stalks.

His spirits seemed to lift slightly at the thought, and Harry added Dumbledore to the picture, having him shoot ears of corn at Voldemort. _Wait a minute, Dumbledore! If I could just... _Harry trailed off, and grinned a second later. _Yeah, that might just work. After all, I can only do magic that effects the physical world..._

He searched his 'body' until he felt a familiar sense of power come over him, his magic. It wasn't much, since he was so exuasted and his physical body was injured or dying, but it would have to do. Harry pushed himself painfully up to a sitting position, and concentrated as hard as he could on the solution for his problem.

He let the magic go, praying that his last hope would work, before he put all his weight on the wall behind him, since he was unable to hold himself up from the pure exuastion. Harry shut his eyes, hoping with all his heart, until a bright golden light shone through his eyelids.

He opened his eyes and smiled, while whispering, "I love magic."

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**Much earlier in the REAL WORLD:**

Albus squeezed his favorite student's hand in comfort as hot tears ran down his silver beard. Harry had been getting much better these past few hours, but injuries kept randomly appearing around his body, that Poppy found she was unable to heal.

And now, he and Poppy had taken shifts to try to spot an injury appearing, but they had drastically slowed, and have not been seen for around fifteen minutes. Albus wasn't sure that was such a bad thing, but the mediwitch was lost. She had never been so clueless with a patient, especially Harry!

She had taken a liking to the child ever since he was brought into her wing during his first year, after Tom Riddle had a go with him... Albus shivered at the thought of his Harry at Voldemort's mercy again and again, right under his nose. It just wasn't right!

_But at least the child knows why now._ He reasoned. _At least Harry knows why he was doomed at birth. Why he was led so many traps by Voldemort and his followers. Why his godfather is dead. That's what Harry wanted, wasn't it? To have answers? _The old man shook his head and sighed. He needed to have another talk with the child about this. Harry couldn't have been dealing with it well... Especially with only those horrid muggles, Malfoy, and Voldemort for company.

Dumbledore bit his lower lip, and wiped the tears away from his face. He had to be strong now. Harry needed him to be-

"Professor?" Albus jumped and spun around, grabbing his wand, only to put it back in his pocket seconds later when he recognized the pair before him. A tired, blonde, Slytherin with heavy bags under his eyes and a equally, if not more, tired shabby werewolf.

"There you are Remus." He said as lightly as he could, "What, pray tell, took you?"

Lupin grimaced and replied, "Everyone wanted an explaination, of course. Why Malfoy was there and where Harry was." Remus' eyes dimmed and went to the boy. "I just told them that Harry wasn't-" He shook his head when he realized the tense of the word he used. "Isn't d-dead and he was gravely injured. It took a good while before we could sneek here past Molly and Hermione. But never mind that, sir. How is he?"

Dumbledore conjured two more chairs near the bed and gestured for them to sit. "Harry is much better than he was." The twinkle was gone from his now stormy blue eyes. "Remus, he had six broken ribs, a broken arm, two broken legs, a minor concussion, a punctured lung, series of deep cuts all over his body, and he was so bruised that his body was more bruise than skin!

Poppy said that he had been under the Cruciartus Curse also." He turned his attention to Draco who was looking very uncomfortable and slightly stunned at the extense of his classmate's injuries. "How many times Mr. Malfoy?" Albus braced himself for the teenager's answer, knowing that it would weigh him down with guilt for the rest of his life, as the Malfoy spoke.

"Six times, sir." The headmaster felt his eyes widen in pure shock and inhaled a sharp breath. The Slytherin added softly, now looking down at his knees, "He didn't start screaming until the fifth one, but professor, there's something else you should know." Albus looked straight into Draco's eyes, but Malfoy's dropped back to the floor, intimidated by the headmaster. "W-when I was shoved into the dungeon with Potter, he wasn't... himself."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. You could practically see the man's hair graying before your eyes. He was looking older and shabbier by the minute.

Malfoy cringed at the man he knew to be a werewolf in fear. The young Slytherin had never liked animals. "He was trapped in a cage... A-as a phoenix." Draco whispered shakily.

Dumbledore shot out of his chair in shock and started to pace around the hospital. The gears in his head were spinning off the charts while he muttered under his breath, "Harry.... Patronous.... But how...? The stag.... Fawkes might have... Hmm...."

Remus had also leaped out of his chair, but instead of choosing his teacher's method, he ran over to Harry. He put a war hardened hand on the sixteen year old's forehead, but recoiled when he realized he had put his hand on an angry bruise. "Oh Harry..." Remus sighed, "Why do you always have to be knee deep in everything?"

"Knee deep?!" Draco muttered from his chair, "What drugs are you doing? he's never been any less than neck deep at _**best**_." This earned a small, slightly forced, smile from the old DADA professor, but Dumbledore was too deep in his thoughts to hear, although he had stopped pacing and sat to grasp Harry's hand again.

"Well, " Dumbledore said evenly, looking Draco and Remus straight in the eye, "it seems Voldemort- Oh for heavens sake, it is just a name you two! - After he captured Harry, he wanted to be sure the child could not find a way out, seeing as the Boy Who Lived hasn't become the Boy Who Died yet. Therefore, he must have changed Harry into his animagus form to prevent him from escaping."

Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he said, "But it takes an extremly powerful wizard to have a magical animagus form! Harry is sixteen!"

"Age," Albus replied with a sad glint in his eyes, "is not realtive to power Remus. I believe Harry's first accidental magic, when he was nine, caused him to Apperate onto a roof. It was quite a nasty shock for his cousin, who had been chasing him." Malfoy sniggered softly at the picture, but it was quickly diminished by the guilt that had swollen in his gut when he looked at the weak form in the Harry's regular bed. Potter- no, Harry- had gotten those injuries, but still told him to save himself and hide in the back... He had flown out in front of an _Avada Kedavra _for him... But he couldn't tell them that, he still had his pride left.

"Draco," the old man said to take him away from his guilt ridden thoughts, "I need to know _**exactly **_what happened at Malfoy Manor. May I ask your permission for that memory?"

The Slytherin shrugged, figuring that he didn't really have much of a choice, and followed Dumbledore's instructions to retrieve the silvery memory from the depths of his shallow mind. He held back a wince as the tug he felt on his temple amplified to a yank, but when Draco removed his wand, the memory was attatched.

He dropped it into the pensieve that Dumbledore had conjured a moment ago, and sat back comfortably into his soft armchair as the Harry's mentor and werewolf friend jumped into the memory.

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_By the way, everybody, I have entered a contest for this story and must have it done by Sept. 1st. So I'll be really putting out the other fics and ficusing clearly on this until Sept. 1st. THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Please review ASAP!_

_kirby_


	11. Chapter 11

_I don't own Harry Potter and never , and I also do not own It's a Small World, and am NOT saying I own it at all!!!_

_Okay, sorry about the wait... _

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Draco stared at the broken form of the Gryffindor. It was just too lifeless, no one should've moved that little. He was barely breathing...

_**Why should you care? **_

_He saved my life!_

_**So?! He's still bloody Potter! Still the famous git you have hated since you were eleven!**_

_Maybe.. But what if-_

Draco snapped out of his mental argument when he heard a _thump_ resonate throughout the hospital wing. He looked up to see Lupin and Dumbledore standing outside the pensive with a look of terror on their faces.

"Six," Remus whispered and ran over to grasp Harry's bruised hand, "six Torture Curses. I haven't even been.... Merlin Harry..." He rubbed the stone cold flesh under his shaking hand, while hot salty tears cascaded down the werewolf's face. He choked out roughly, "A-albus, will he be alright- Albus?!"

The headmaster still stood in the same place he had been standing in when he jumped out, with a mask concealing his emotions. His eyes never left Harry''s mangled body, and the old man's voice was barely a whisper. "I have condemmed you, Harry. I am more sorry than you will ever know."

The tears came next.

* * *

Silence rolled through the hospital. The half moon shone brightly into the room, and three still figures sat uncomfortably in plush armchairs around a bedside. A flash of golden light lit up the room, making the sleeping wizards twitch ever so slightly.

Little did they know they will not be able to wake up.

* * *

**T**

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**NOW**

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_Albus sat his desk fumbling with his stacks upon stacks of paperwork. It never seemed to diminish, but get bigger and bigger until the room was overfilled with parchment._

_He couldn't breathe, sinking deeper and deeper into the sea of parchment. Albus scrambled to try to swim, but chains appeared around his feet with weights attached to drag him down to the depths. He tried to scream._

_No one heard him._

_**Flash!**_

Albus gasped for air to fill his lungs as he sat up in the dark room. Taking deep breaths, he pulled out his wand and looked at his surrondings. Dim candles lit up the small room to show a single chair, no door was present.

But before he could even cast a spell that would get him out of there a silver haze appeared in front of him. It took a second for the figure to materialize, but when it did, the professor couldn't help letting out a gasp.

In front of him stood a jet black phoenix with red eyes spotted with green. The creature eminated a feverish heat that enveloped Albus, making sweat trickle down his face. The phoenix let out a harsh trill that seemed like it should have been from a wounded hawk. It raised it's feathered head to look him in the eye. Albus met the bird's gaze for a mere moment, before the phoenix glared him down, filling him with every negative emotion he had ever be subjected to: pain, loss, depression, sadness, abandonment, and intense guilt. He had never felt so helpless. So alone.

**"Dumbledore." **

Albus almost jumped three feet in the air. The phoenix's voice was as cold as ice, but was as venomous as a fully grown, powerful basilisk.

He face the animal, shaking slightly. Albus bowed his head. "Oh honorable phoenix," he soothed in a persuasive voice, "greetings to you. However, you seem to know myself quite well.I am unfortunatly ignorant. May I ask for what you are called?"

A low rumble of what could have been a hollow scowl sounded from the phoenix's throught. **"Shut it, no one likes a kiss arse." **

Albus blinked. No one has talked to him like that since before he turned twenty-six about a hundred and twenty-four years ago! "I'm sorry... What did you say?"

The phoenix's voice got colder. **"Dumbledore." **

"No, after you said that." Albus insisted. "First you said my name, and then you said something else."

**"Dumbledore. Shut. UP!" **The black bird's red eyes darted around the room, alert. It stretched it's ivory talons anxiously. **"Now, keep your mouth shut and listen close. I don't like to repeat myself. My name is Ciemny, and I am your guide through Harry's personal hell."**

Albus' eyes widened and he felt his heart clench "Harry? What are you talking about noble phoenix?"

The bird scowled. **"First of all old man, it's Ciemny, not any title. And yes, you are in Harry Potter's mind." **

Surprise shot through the man, and Albus brought his hands up to his head and rubbed his temples. This wasn't making any sense to the old headmaster. He looked into Ciemny's blood-red irises with his x-raying blue orbs. "I apologize. Can you lead me to Harry, Ciemny?"

The fire-bird trilled mournfully, **"No. I have my orders, you have a different destiny." **Ciemny motioned for him to grab ahold of his tail feathers, and Albus did as the phoenix asked reluctantly, after seeing the bird glare when he hesitated.

And off they went in a puff of emerald flames.

* * *

_Remus grinned madly at the sight before him. He heard the __Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies__ from the __Nutcracker__ play in the backround as two dancers in tutus leaped across the stage. Ribbons on their ballet slippers trailed behind them, messing one dancer up by getting in the way of his footwork._

_"Is that the best you two arrogant idiots have?!" The werewolf jumped as Severus Snape thundered, "A first year could do better!" Snape turned to Remus. "And you! WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE IN OBVIOUS DISRESPECT?! I AM YOUR WIZARDING BALLET TEACHER AND I DESERVE RESPECT!"_

_**Flash! **_

Remus sat up, shaking his head to clear the strange thoughts. That had to be the weirdest dream he had in a long, long time, but why he was dreaming of Snape was weirder-

"Where am I?" Remus asked himself. He looked around at the blank room in front of him. The large room was completely white with occasional holes in it that looked like someone kicked through the wall, hard. The werewolf stood up, but jumped back when a black blur appeared in front of him.

The blur shimmered for a moment before it took the form of what looked like a huge black leopard. But Remus knew exactly what it was when he felt it radiating magic, a nundu*, and a female one to boot. The beast's scarlet speckled green eyes examined his now frozen form.

**"Hello Remus," **The nundu growled, **"Harry will be glad to know his little loop-hole was successful." **

Remus gasped out, "Harry? What did you do to him?!"

The beast purred in amusement. It was making a circle around the man that made him uncomfortably think of a wolf cornering it's prey. **"Why do people always think I did something? No, I wish no harm to come to Harry. Actually, just the opposite. My name is Salmaria, and I am your guide to Harry."**

Remus seemed to tense up more. "Guide? What do you mean? Where's Harry?!"

Salmaria's kind flecked eyes looked into his brown ones. They stared at each other for a moment before the nundu bowed her head mournfully. **"Harry," **she whispered, **"is dying. I must get you to him before he is gone forever.**

**"Now come, we must hurry."**

* * *

_Draco lay in a hospital bed, itching to jump out and run out of St. Mungos. Nurses ran throughout the room every hour or so, but besides that, all was quiet. He wasn't sure why he was there, but Draco Malfoy knew it was because of Miss Peanutte Butter._

_P.B. Creamy to be exact._

_Anyway, Creamy locked him in the nuthouse at Mungos. The authorities have reasons to believe the perp had an accomplice, Jelie Jamn. She was known for- Well, he wasn't authorized to say what... But it was bad! _

_So P.B. and J. together ganged up on Draco after his dancing lesson with Instructor Snape, and locked him in a broom closet with a stereo that played:_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

**_(Alright we get it! The world's freakin' small!)_**

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

**_(Eye twitches)_**

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

**_(Ear drums bleed)_**

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

**_(Becomes suicidal)_**

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much that we share  
That its time we're aware  
Its a small world after all_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_There is just one moon and one golden sun  
And a smile means friendship to everyone.  
Though the mountains divide  
And the oceans are wide  
It's a small small world_

_Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small world after all  
Its a small, small world_

_Its a world of laughter, a world or tears  
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear  
Theres so much-_

**_Flash!_**

Draco Malfoy was never so happy to get out of a dream.

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_**Did you like it? I really can't apologize enough for the absence, but I know where this story is going now! **_

_**Sequel: The sequel will be out after this is finished which will be awhile from now.**_

_**Reviews: Really appreciate them, and thank you so much for taking the time. Keep reviewing please!!!**_

_**REVIEW!!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_I don't own Harry Potter._

_Big thanks to __harryxtwilightxlover () whom I'm dedicating this chapter to. Your review really brightened my day.  
_

_I have this entire fic planned out all the way to the end, so.... Yeah. You guys are in for an INTERESTING story. hehehe *evil laugh*_

_Starting with the fact that I am changing the point of view. It's going to be so much more interesting to read. Trust me, I tried to write this all in the same POV and it was not good at ALL._

_Enjoy!_

_CIEMNY'S POV_

* * *

I watched as Dumbledore lurched when he reached solid ground. The old man looked around the dusty room and the phoenix could practically see his heart fly with joy at the sight of his student in the back of the room, face down on the floor.

"Harry!" Dumbledore yelled and was about to run to him when he heard my warning trill.

"That is not-"

But Dumbledore didn't seem to care and flung the creature I knew not to be Harry right-side up. The man's eyes widened and Albus gasped at the unharmed 'boy's' now deep black eyes. The old man backed up a few steps, breathing slightly heavier than before. He turned to me and flabbergasted stammered out, "Why....? Who?" He shook himself. "Black eyes?!"

I rolled my eyes. It was very entertaining to watch this human splutter. "Relax you old fool, it's not really him. That is a guardian."

I received a blank stare in return and I couldn't help but let amusement fill up my eyes. How could this human not know of the guardians? How could he not know of the ones that keep Harry's mind intact? The ones that keep the trauma at bay?

What a stupid human!

Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows in substitution for the blank stare. "A guardian....? My dear phoenix, I am not following-"

Fury rose in my throat and filled my voice. I cut him off, snarling, "Ciemny! Not 'dear phoenix'." I fluffed up my feathers angrily. I had always had an anger problem when people tried to call me fancy titles I didn't deserve.

Dumbledore recoiled, looking bewildered at the animal in front of him. And he looked more closely at my long, elegant form.

I followed his eyes to my pitch black plumage with emerald green tips on the end of each feather. It always reminded me of green flames dancing in a moonless night. The feathers had a silky looking quality about them that seemed to glisten in the dim candle light.

My eyes had always been very curious. They were scarlet red; however, the red was flecked with bright emerald green. It was like you accidentally spilt some sickly green Draught of the Living Death into a pool of blood. The shape of my eyes was identical to the familiar almond eye curve of Harry and Lily Potter's. But, these deep resonating orbs had a way of penetrating the way through your defenses and making you feel like a small child being told off by their parents. It was truly a strange sight now that I was thinking about it.

The rest of my body resembled that of Fawkes the -as I like to call it- Gryffindor phoenix: long beautiful wings, long sharp talons, and around three feet in length measured from head to the tip of my claws.

"I am sorry." The old headmaster said to me as I perched on his broad shoulder, "You have my sincere apologies." Anxiousness shone in the headmaster's eyes as I stared into his bright blue orbs. And after a minute of just simply glaring at the man I averted my gaze away. He seemed to be sincere enough.

"Fine." I said, angrily. "But know this now, Albus Dumbledore:" Seriousness filled the air, and my voice almost hissing, but full of venom. "You are not the famed, esteemed figure here that you are in your world. Here no one cares about the twelve uses of dragon's blood or that you defeated Grindelwald. No one gives a crap that you were given Order of Merlin, First Class, or that you are the Grand Sorcerer and Secret Keeper of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Just know, you are in the Chosen One's world now. Brace yourself, for I will not save you from everything here." And with a final reprimanding glare that would make McGonagall flinch, I flew over to the guardian on the floor.

Pity welled up in the pit of my stomach as I looked at the familiar guardian with black eyes, because behind those black eyes were despair and the emotion this guardian knew so well: sacrifice. The guardian rose almost robotically from his position on the floor, and his eyes bolted immediately past me to the old human that was staring in complete and utter bewilderment at the guardian. He stood up.

"You." The guardian rasped out as he focused his eyes on Dumbledore. "You are not yet dead." I saw the intensity in his gaze make the old wizard take a small step back. The black-eyed man furrowed his eyebrows. "This chess game is not over." He took a few steps closer to Dumbledore. Determination filled his movements, and viciousness seeped into his eyes. The cement beneath his feet glowed red hot as if melting.

Dumbledore stood frozen to the spot like something had rooted him to the ground with his mouth wide open, as if he were a fish. His face was caught in between fear, uneasiness, and pure shock that reflected why his body was shaking harder than an earthquake in San Francisco.

But the guardian would not stop advancing forward. "There are still pieces to be played." He growled, "You must _**sacrifice**_ to win the game."

He was inches away from Dumbledore's wrinkled, pale face as he drew a sword from the sheath across his back. The guardian raised the blade over his head, and the glittering sword came soaring down toward the old man's scalp.

I instantly knew it was my time to step in. I raced my wings forward to put myself in between the moving blade and the wizard. I snatched the black sword in my beak and used its own momentum to swing it around to face the guardian.

My calm exterior fell as I stared at the black eyes and for a moment sheer anger flooded my thoughts. "We do _**not **_harm the mortals here." I spat in fury, "You know the rules, damn it! Get a hold of yourself, Opfer." Shouting his name jolted the guardian out of his stupor.

He nodded, still somewhat dazed, and looked back toward Dumbledore and then back to me. "Sorry Ciemny," Opfer said clearly without the rasped tone he had been using earlier, "This emotion is very hard to keep in check." He rubbed his forehead tiredly.

I sighed and pecked his shoulder affectionately. "It's all right my friend. Go rest and have some peace." Opfer nodded, and a serene look crossed his face before he fled back to his original position face down on the hard, cement floor.

I turned back to the old wizard- who was now blinking rapidly like he had just woken up- and motioned for him to follow me out of the newly formed door to the hallway.

"I believe I owe you a bit of an explanation, old man."

* * *

_SORRY! I can't believe this is taking me so long… I'm working on more chapters as we speak. They will start to be much longer._

_Please review, it'll make my writing faster!!_

_kirby_


	13. Chapter 13

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

_I don't own Harry Potter._

_**I'M SO SORRY! I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THESE STORIES! I JUST HAVE A REALLY SCREWED UP LIFE AT THE MOMENT AND AM WRITING AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! I really am sorry. I am also going to update Horrible Timing and Serena's Trap ASAP.**_

* * *

I turned back to the old wizard- who was now blinking rapidly like he had just woken up- and motioned for him to follow me out of the newly formed door to the hallway.

"I believe I owe you a bit of an explanation, old man."

The human and I stepped through the wooden door into a small room with a low ceiling that had a claustrophobic feel to it. But what the room was filled with shocked me.

Carnage… Everywhere.

Pieces of the walls were scattered throughout the room along with reminants of glass and stone basins. And I had to admit I was shaken. Fear and anger gripped me with his steel hand, as I stared at the rubble that had been my-

A small gasp behind me inturrupted my thoughts. I spun around to gaze at the Headmaster with rage filled eyes. Dumbledore's own wizzing orbs had darted around the room, absorbing every piece of destroyed property, and now a look of realization shone in his eyes.

"Voldemort was here," he said with a slightly fascinated tone to his voice, "but how did he-"I stopped him with a short 'later', and cleared away the layer of glass and stone shards around us.

I gestured with my wing for him to sit, and as he did I felt a clawing sensation of self doubt fill me. What if he didn't believe me? Or if he didn't want to help? What if he wandered off into Harry's mind and found _**the door?**_ What if he got eaten? What if- I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I just had to stay calm… For Harry's sake as well as mine. Determination filled my stomach.

I would not fail Harry _**again**_. No… Never again, for that minor error had cost him so much suffering…

A small cough from the grey-haired human jolted me out of my silent vow. I sighed to myself and flicked my head toward him. "Ask and I shall answer, old man."

Now, that was an explanation he was not hoping to hear. I could see it in his lined, and wrinkled complexion, but the wizard pressed on with an obviously fake serene façade plastered on his face.

He started with a simple question, one that I had been asked many times. Although, no matter who asked this question it always seemed to get more and more annoying. I mean, really! Who askes that infernal obvious question? Don't these idiots have eyes?

Dumbledore had asked where we were.

If I were human, I would have slapped him. So instead, I responded with a well thought out and intellectual response. "Well, Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore," I sneered as Snapely as I could, "we are in a room."

"Yes, I knew that, but where is this room located in-"

I cut him off. This was too great an opportunity to let pass by! I felt the corners of my beak twitch in merriment as I said, "This room is located here, my dear headmaster."

The wrinkles between his eyes scrunched together in frustration at my antics, but my happiness just continued to grow. After all, when had anyone been permitted to try and outwit the famous Albus Dumbledore?

This is why I only snickered when he replied with a short, "Where?"

"There."

"WHERE is there?"

I felt some giddiness float into my smile. This was better than I ever could have imagined! So, I contined to taunt his intelligence with a smile filled, "Right here."

"WHERE?" He all but screamed at me.

"In that place with the place in it, you know?"

Albus howled, "NO, I don't! Where are we you frustrating phoenix?"

I snickered again. Leave it to Dumbledore to end someone's fun times… "Well, there is no reason to stoop to badly made insults. I will tell you."

This seemed to boost the man's morale as I spoke. It meant so much more than the fact that he was getting slaughtered at a mind game, actually, by me moving onto the real talk then the headmaster must have realized just how close he was to finding a way to get to Harry. Too bad that this was going to be a long Q&A session!

"Very well, old one." I took a deep breath of preparation. Dumbledore never liked to be left without information, so this was going to be very detailed and boring. Unless… Oooh! I had an idea. "First of all, I will only allow you five questions. This is not only to limit the amount I have to talk, but also to leave you as you left someone that I know very well: in the dark."

"So, question numero uno!" I said with a slight flair to the non-grammtically correct Spanglish. "We are in the depths of a Mr. Harry James Potter's subconscious. Actually, to be more specific, my dwelling that resides in him."

Yes, the small shards of glass, the large splinters of wood, the giant shards from my miniature pensieve… They were all my own. Harry had constructed this room himself, as he had with all of the caverns of his mind, but he had placed a protection on this place. A protection that Voldemort had broken so very, very easily while I had not been inside. It made me shiver as to think of what has happened to the rest of Harry's mind, and the secrets that he instructed so many of us to guard… For his sake I hope Harry had placed the ultimate guard against Voldemort. If he did not… Well, let's merely hope that he did…

I pushed myself once again from my desperate musings, and turned my attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Your home…" Dumbledore whispered just loud enough to be overheard, "Ciemny, what is your role in Harry's mind. Why are you here? To protect him?"

Now that was an awful question to ask. Of course the man just had to put a sore subject right in the beginning of the questioning… Typical!

However, I suppose it was a valid question.

"Sort of…" I responded, "My role has been changed throughout this young man's lifetime. At the moment, it is complicated, to say the least." And I left it at that. There was no way this old coot was getting all of the useful information out of me early!

"Who are you protecting him from?" Was the next question, and it jarred my memory like nothing else. There were so many things to protect this child from that it was stunning. From himself to Voldemort and plenty in between, this should have been my reply… But I had a strong urge to just repeat the obvious and keep Harry's secrets safe. Some things should be kept from this man… I just knew it!

I chirped out, "Voldemort. We must keep him from reaching one of three precious items that Harry keeps hidden here."

This took Dumbledore by storm. This surprising him didn't shock me, though. I knew that he must have thought he was brought here to save Harry, but it was so much more than that… More than that man could comprehend.

He took awhile to contemplate my words, I could practically see him rolling them over in his head and analyzing them. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, however, he had a new question.

"What are the items are we being sent to protect? His Invisibility Cloak or his wand?"

Now this made me laugh- Or rather, trill out loud. "You really think that Harry would endanger your life for a stupid Cloak?" I cawed out through my trills, "You must be stupider than you look! You're almost as bad as those fat relatives!"

I think it took me a good five minutes to calm down. When I did, however, I figured I might as well answer his idiotic question.

"No, Dumbledore, Harry did not bring you here to merely protect a little item of importance to him. No, he would never do that. Harry brought you here to protect something that he could only keep at bay himself." I shivered involuntarily. I knew from experience how powerful that thing inside was… And I knew very well how hard Harry pushed himself to keep it behind a locked door. "This power inside a doorway is something that nobody except Harry could keep inside, but Voldemort had rendered Harry very, very weak. So, Harry shoved the door and the other item behind even more protection than before right before he summoned you and passed out."

In return for that well developed answer, I just got a "what the hell" look from a one hundred and fifty year old man. His eyebrows were also all scrunched together in confusion, and a single vein pounded above his temple as the gears in his rickety brain turned.

"Ciemny," The teacher whispered anxiously, "what is behind that door?"

Oh crap. Why did he have to ask that? Shoot! How do I answer? Uhh… I guess I'll just say something half truthful! Yeah, that's it! I breathed out, "Power. So much that it could crush Voldemort easily if Harry let it consume him. It is… Well, I suppose you'd call it Dark magic."

"But how did it get inside Harry-"I cut him off again.

I shook my head and took flight as I said, "That's your five questions. Now let's get going, we have a long road ahead of us."

* * *

Dumbledore and I stepped through the door on the left, and I had a sudden foreboding feeling in my small, feathered gut. That manipulating human was definitely _**not **_going to like this one. It will upset him greatly to see what looks like Harry acting like… What he is feeling.

But I swear, if that old dude cries… I'm out of here! I don't _**do**_ tears.

I looked over at the old, wrinkled human curiously as I landed on his shoulder. Dumbledore's face seemed to be forcibly contorted into a face of calmness and serenity in a sad attempt to keep himself from getting overemotional. Poor sap doesn't know what's coming…

As I surveyed the room around me, I thought I felt the incredible, impenetrable, amazing, unbreakable, Albus Dumbledore tremble beneath me.

But… That couldn't be right! The incredible, impenetrable, amazing, unbreakable, strong, brave, and powerful Headmaster doesn't _**tremble**_ in fear. Right? Then again, I _**did **_just drag him out from his little fantasyland of lemon drops and ice mice, and drop him into Harry's mess of a brain to go through his guardians. I suppose I'd be a bit freaked too. Maybe just a tad.

_**Creeak! **_I leaped out of my thoughts as I saw the next guardian start across the cheap wood floor to a chair on my upper left side. A guitar in hand, the Harry look alike had blazing orange eyes that had a frozen expression of an angst, murder-ridden… War veteran. He was not the angsty teen that Harry Potter tried to pretend to be.

The guardian sat down in the chair with a defeated thump of the chair. He looked at the guitar for a moment, as if he was contemplating something, and started to tune his instrument. I watched him with a slight sad smile. I detested watching this little performance sometimes… It was… Well, it's indescribable, really.

The musician I knew quite well locked his eyes with mine, and gave me a comforting blink of his glowing pumpkin colored eyes.

Good ol' Sorg, always thinking of others, but then again it _**is **_his job… I nodded my head in response, and he didn't even miss a beat. Sorg, the guardian, spun his head at breakneck speed to simply glare angrily at Dumbledore. He strummed the first note on his acoustic guitar, and without looking away from the old manipulator, Sorg began.

_Do you ever feel like breaking down?  
Do you ever feel out of place?  
Like somehow you just don't belong,  
And no one understands you._

Sorg's melodic baritone voice never wavered as he sang the lyrics with a defeated, smooth tone. Every note led to another in a brilliant sequencing of music that he seemed to pour his entire being into.

And yet, he continued to stare at Dumbledore with silent accusations.

_Do you ever wanna run away?  
Do you lock yourself in your room?  
With the radio on turned up so loud,  
That no one hears you screaming_.

Dumbledore's confident stance of importance seemed to falter with every word of the song, pounding itself deeper and deeper into his subconscious until it hit where it hurt. His eyebrows were slightly lowered in confusion, and slight uneasiness with the notes that followed. The headmaster was so anxious he rocked back and forth on his heels while under Sorg's tormenting gaze.

Not so tough now… Are you Dumbles?

_No you don't know what it's like,  
When nothing feels all right.  
You don't know what it's like,  
To be like me._

The guardian put his hand to his heart for a moment before continuing with a rougher, loud tone to his voice that seemed to frighten Dumbledore more than his appearance.

_To be hurt.  
To feel lost.  
To be left out in the dark.  
_

A memory of Dumbledore in Harry's fifth year shimmered into focus behind the guardian. The somewhat younger Harry was running after the Dumbledore that was storming away, not even aknowleging the teenager behind him. The stone cold look on his face was terrifying.

The memory flashed to Sirius falling through the Veil.

I could see the look on Dumbledore's face. It was the look on the face of many nighttime wanderers that were caught by their teachers. It was definately the 'oh crap!' look. Also known as the realization look, but what was the fun in that?

And by that frozen expression on his face, I knew he was finally figuring it out.

_To be kicked when you're down.  
To feel like you've been pushed around._

A meaty, purple faced man shoving a three year old down the stairs showed up on the screen now. The child flipped and did summersaults down the wooden staircase as his momentum caught up with him, but when he neared the bottom, he turned onto his side at a very precise angle.

It was as if he knew how he needed to fall… One could only learn that by experience.

_To be on the edge of breaking down,  
And no one's there to save you.  
No you don't know what it's like,  
Welcome to my life._

A memory of Harry, dangling for dear life on a statue of the Grim Reaper, completely alone except for a cackling Voldemort, a dead Cedric, and his Death Eaters.

_Oh, now that expression was priceless_… Ciemny thought. And it was true. The wrinkles on his face seemed to multiply by the dozens as muscles in his face flexed to go with his terrified emotions. And I knew he was not terrified merely by the song and Sorg's all but basilisk-like gaze.

No, he was scared of his realization. And he knew it.

He was guilty.

_Do you wanna be somebody else?  
Are you sick of feeling so left out?_

An image of a frail teenager huddled in a dark, crowded room with giant locks and bars on the windows appeared on the screen. The child seemed to stare with blank, glassy eyes at Dumbledore.

_Are you desperate to find something more?  
Before your life is over.  
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?  
Are you sick of everyone around?  
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies,  
While deep inside you're bleeding._

An image of Umbridge and her blood quill, torturing Harry appeared, and next to it a memory of her protective teaching.

Sorg added anger to the mix of his singing, and now started my reason for reluctance for watching.

_No you don't know what it's like,  
When nothing feels all right.  
You don't know what it's like,  
To be like me._

I winced as Sorg's emotion he had been overlooking took over him. His eyes blazed like a thousand super nova suns, and fury spread throughout his body, lighting it with a terrifying glow.

A dark scowl was emitted from his chapped lips._  
_  
_To be hurt.  
To feel lost.  
To be left out in the dark._  
_To be kicked when you're down,  
To feel like you've been pushed around.  
To be on the edge of breaking down,  
And no one's there to save you .  
No you don't know what it's like,  
Welcome to my life._

A memory of Harry, bound with ropes, facing Quirrel and Voldemort for the Stone played.

By this point Sorg was practically spitting venom at dumbstruck Dumbledore. The guardian was screaming the angst ridden song at the top of his lungs._  
_  
_No one ever lied straight to your face,_

The Dursleys in the backround, now with expressions of distaste, telling him he was a freak and that his parents were drunks.

_And no one ever stabbed you in the back.  
You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay!_

The picture of Harry when he was being tortured by Bellatrix rippled onto the screen. His screams echoed throughout the room.

_Everybody always gave you what you wanted.  
You never had to work it was always there._

Ron Weasley and his mother were arguing now, and on the other side of the screen was an image of Lily and James' graves.

_You don't know what it's like, what it's like._

The strumming of his guitar seemed to become less violent now, but Dumbledore remained flabbergasted at the guardian.

_To be hurt  
To feel lost  
To be left out in the dark_

The cupboard under the stairs showed up next, with a bruised eight year old sobbing quietly after a nightmare.

_To be kicked when you're down  
To feel like you've been pushed around  
To be on the edge of breaking down_

The image of Harry shattering Dumbledore's office flashed to life.

_And no one's there to save you._

_No you don't know what it's like (what it's like)_

_To be hurt  
To feel lost  
To be left out in the dark  
To be kicked when you're down  
To feel like you've been pushed around  
To be on the edge of breaking down  
And no one's there to save you  
No, you don't know what it's like,_

_Welcome to my life_

The Mirror of Erised showed up with Harry's parents shinning back at him with Sirius and Cedric on their flanks.

_Welcome to my life_

Harry was grabbing the bars of his prison at the Dursleys, and shaking them in a futile effort to get out.

_Welcome to my life._

A last image jolted to the screen. It was the Prophecy swirling about in a small glass orb. It was Harry's destiny.

And as I led Dumbledore, who looked shell shocked, out of the room, I couldn't help think…

How is he going to cope with the rest of the guardians?


End file.
